Calendar import not editable

[Bartelmy]

I have made calendars (for years) in PagePlus. This morning, I have been trying to generate an editable version of these in Affinity Publisher - with not much luck.

Having output the PagePlus file as a pdf, I use the normal Affinity import filter for PDFs to get the file into Publisher - I tried it with both 'favouring editability' and 'favouring fidelity'. However, having detected the metrics and colours perfectly it does not then define the cells as editable (text entry is not possible except for the individual text boxes containing pre-existing text such as dates). Oddly enough, a few empty cells offer the facility (on a right click) to convert the space to a text box but most cells are not individually selectable at all.

Remembering an Affinity Forum suggestion that one could try copy and paste, I did this but received only paste options for picture formats.

I have managed to get obviously text-based files from PagePlus into Affinity Publisher (it is a rigmarole - largely to do with some aspects of text being dumped as curves, each on a separate layer - but it is possible with patience...). However, not being able to import calendars in editable format is a real pain. 1 - Are there any solutions for this? And 2 - will Publisher be providing templates for calendar documents in the future?

Thanks. Bart

 

[Gnobelix]

Hello @Bartholomew

look here, maybe that will help you

Cheers

[stokerg]

Hi Bartholomew,

I just published one of the calendar templates from PagePlus as a PDF and opened it in Publisher.  The table with the dates is just converted to a text box, which is what i'd expect to be honest.  But all the dates and text are editable.  If you can attach a sample PDF/PPP file i can see why some of your items are not editable.

3 hours ago, Bartholomew said:

will Publisher be providing templates for calendar documents in the future?

Honestly i don't know.  Templates in general have been requested a number of times on the Forums so might be something we do at a later date.

[Bartelmy]

Thanks for the various replies. Using the tables option to create a calendar is one way forward but the great advantage of the pre-existing template is that it removes the need for messing around to create every date for a given calendar year - I can just pick a year and a month and the whole caboodle is presented to me, correctly dated, as an editable entity. I like my software to do the heavy lifting for me...

The calendars I mentioned originally are my edited entities derived from a template (one month at a time for several consecutive years) - I have not actually tried outputting an unpopulated template as a PDF to see if that gives me an editable result (I will try this).

When I populate calendars with information, there are colour-coded cells as well as text - I think that it is the detailed modification of the cells that is likely to present the problems when the PagePlus file is converted to a PDF: I think that the conversion procedure (whether from PagePlus or in Publisher) does not recognise the kinds of detail involved - that coloured cells with no text should still be text boxes (the dates themselves are correctly presented as editable text boxes - it is the empty part of each cell that is being mis-identified). I could, I suppose, expand each date text box to fill the cell and, thereby, gain the capacity to enter text - but this is a time-consuming kludge.

I will generate a version of one of my calendars with the textual content removed but with the colour-coding present and will test this again. If - as I expect - this produces the same problem, I will send the file to you as an attachment.

All ideas gratefully received.

 

[Hilltop]

Bart, may I ask why you don't edit the calendar in PagePlus?

[Bartelmy]

I am editing the calendar in PagePlus However, I am exploring ways of moving my PagePlus work into Publisher since PagePlus is no longer supported (to my sorrow...): it seems like a good idea to become independent of PagePlus if possible.

This is also a way in which I can test Publisher - as a largely silent member of the Beta program, I know that it is still a work in progress and that raising issues about the way that Publisher handles PagePlus files may be helpful: for example, I am currently moving Church newsletter files from PagePlus to Publisher - an instructive process: often rewarding but sometimes frustrating.

I sense that Publisher developers find the PagePlus user-base inconvenient... However, there are plenty of people like myself who have used PagePlus ever since it blinked into being and who want to be able to get PagePlus files to work properly in Publisher.

By the way, the PagePlus shortcut for toggling guides and margins on and off is ctrl-backslash - a lot simpler than the Publisher shortcut (ctrl-alt-w).

Bart

 

[Hilltop]

1 minute ago, Bartholomew said:

I sense that Publisher developers find the PagePlus user-base inconvenient... However, there are plenty of people like myself who have used PagePlus ever since it blinked into being and who want to be able to get PagePlus files to work properly in Publisher.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I've read quite some threads on this issue and I find the developers' explanations on why PagePlus files cannot be imported into Publisher clear and conclusive. In addition, they continue to address the user base of their legacy software, such as yourself, with respect and expressed their regret that there is and will be no way to accommodate them/you.

I'm sure that they feel your pain and do not consider you and the other PagePlus user base as 'inconvenient'. I actually find it quite recommendable how they (continue to) respond sympathetically to the many disappointed reactions.  

Even though I never used Serif software before Affinity, I can appreciate your frustration. However, the legacy line would at some point in time have come to an end anyway. The fact that the company is developing a set of apps that replace most of the legacy software and is based on a technology that will be future-proof is very encouraging. How many companies do that, keep their legacy software still available, and continue to interact with the user base courteously?  Sure, it makes business sense but only very few companies manage to behave accordingly.

[Alfred]

57 minutes ago, Bartholomew said:

I am editing the calendar in PagePlus However, I am exploring ways of moving my PagePlus work into Publisher since PagePlus is no longer supported (to my sorrow...): it seems like a good idea to become independent of PagePlus if possible.

But PagePlus is still supported!

https://community.serif.com/forum/?products=pageplus

Quote

By the way, the PagePlus shortcut for toggling guides and margins on and off is ctrl-backslash - a lot simpler than the Publisher shortcut (ctrl-alt-w).

You can choose your own shortcuts for most commands and tools via ‘Edit > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts’.

[Bartelmy]

Hilltop - thanks: I assure you that I am not being in any sense adversarial in my comments. I accepted a long time ago that there would be no import filter for PagePlus. If I am trying to suggest anything it is that Plan A for importing (using the PDF import engine) still needs some work - though I appreciate that it may be impossible to make it 100% responsive to every nuance in a source file. I am enjoying Publisher and readily accept your outline of its virtues.

Alfred - thanks for the link. I could perhaps have chosen my words more carefully: what I intended to say is that PagePlus is no longer being updated (to the best of my knowledge). Thanks too for the note re shortcuts: I will explore the possibilities.

 

[Hilltop]

Thanks for the further clarification. Good to hear that you're actually in good spirits! 

[Hugh Morrison]

Apple Numbers version 6.1 (6369)has a useful and quite useable calendar template. It is easy to edit and format and can be exported as a .pdf.

If you have an older Mac iPhoto (not 'Photos') has a calendar template, not so easy to edit, that can be exported as a .pdf.

Both of these are more likely to be useful for pictorial wall calendars around A4 size, but the Numbers version could set up a wall calendar of an A1 or A0 size - I think.

[Bartelmy]

Hugh - thanks for this but I am running Windows 10...